Ironic Syndrome
by KenSan1990
Summary: When potential benefactor Seto Kaiba suddenly seizes in the lobby of PPTH, Cuddy turns to House to figure out what's wrong with him, knowing that he's solved Mokuba's case in the past. But putting the two together would uproot more than the disease...
1. Prologue

A/N: To all my Rurouni Kenshin readers who might be recieving this story...it will be weird...to all those who are new....welcome! THis whole thing is a complete and utter whim...I got bored in my study hall and wrote this so...yeah...

I told myself that I would never write a crossover...I did I guess. Though I will say this is more on the House M.D. side then it is on the Yu-Gi-Oh side....I just thought I'd have fun with the interaction of the two geniuses.....

Also, I will say, I'm not a doctor...I am a high school student using the internet...anything medically written is what I've done best with my research...don't burn me if anyone reading is a med student or a nurse or something liek that...I'm trying....so...onto the story!

* * *

**Prologue**.

It was getting late at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching hospital, late enough that the widely known, but hardly liked Doctor House was getting ready to leave. Shortly behind him was his colleague and roommate, Wilson.

They passed the nurses' station, Wilson trying to stay a few paces behind his grumpy friend. They had begun falling out with one another that day; over lunch no less, though Wilson was well aware that this would only be temporary. House may have been the one to hold a grudge, but he could never do it against Wilson, which was the reason that Wilson wasn't going to do anything that made it seem like House's silence and attempts to stay ahead of the oncologist were bothering him.

Wilson wasn't expecting his friend to stop all of a sudden, and when he did, Wilson was forced into his friend's backside. "Why'd you stop?" the flustered oncologist asked. As Wilson expected, he garnered no response from the man, but could see clearly what was catching his attention.

Standing outside the hospital was Cuddy, a rubber bands twirling around on her hands. She was looking upward at a man, smiling somewhat. "She's…probably talking to Lucas," said Wilson who was trying to answer his friend's silent question.

"She'd be more casual than that," House responded. Wilson looked over House's shoulder to get a better view. "She's tense; you can see it in her boobs." Wilson gave his friend an unconvinced look, but turned toward Cuddy again, thinking that maybe he could see what House was seeing. As he was about to say something, Cuddy started to walk forward. One of her arms opening toward the door of the hospital. That was when a second figure, clad in all white, came into view.

"I don't think that's Lucas," said House proudly. "Unless he's suddenly changed ethnicity and grown a few inches."

Though House was zoned in on the fact that Cuddy was talking to another man and having pleasant conversation with him, no doubt to try and use it against her and Lucas in the future, Wilson was curious why she was talking to the man in way that House proved wasn't casual but outside the grounds of her office.

"I think I've seen him before," Wilson finally said. Cuddy and the man had passed them already, allowing Wilson a better look at the guest. "He's some sort of business man."

"That suit doesn't tell you that? He's got his initials as cufflinks," House was about to pounce foreword but was held back by Wilson momentarily. "Not much of a talker either it seems."

There was a shift in the air, one that Wilson caught immediately. "What are you thinking?" Wilson asked, glancing up to his friend. The pensive look on the maverick doctor's face was enough to scare Wilson.

"I'm not thinking anything," he replied. "Except for the fact that—"House couldn't even finish his sentence before the man fell over and started to convulse, "he could have waited for me to finish."

Wilson only sighed at his friend's arrogance before rushing over to Cuddy and the unknown man. Cuddy was barking orders to the staff around her, the lazy air of the lobby being broken by the sudden seizure. When Wilson looked back he wasn't surprised to see that his friend was missing in action.

"Where'd House go?" Cuddy asked. Wilson shrugged his shoulders.

"He left I guess."

They stood back as a group of nurses started to take her guest back into the ER. "Perfect. Just perfect. I get a benefactor in here and he has a seizure."

"Benefactor?" Cuddy looked up at Wilson, almost glaring. "Who is he?"

"Seto Kaiba. He's a Japanese gaming mogul…he came here a few years ago."

"For what, dare I ask?" Wilson inquired.

"His little brother came here. And, believe it or not, House diagnosed the boy with Friedreich's ataxia. So, Kaiba has felt that it is his place to try and help this hospital."

"I don't think that Friedreich's ataxia includes seizures..."said Wilson.

Cuddy looked to the oncologist. "Well, we'll just have to call Dr. House back in," she said, walking off to her office. Wilson raised his brow toward her, then looked back at the entrance, sighing.

* * *

A/N: Chapters will be be longer than this...buts its like an opening sequence. To me this is like an episode of House so...yep....after Wilson and House moved in together....pretty much....yep...

Till later, KenSan out!


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Glad to know a few people like this...it probably would be best to get past the first chapter tho...since that really doesn't get into the mystery too much so...I know the update is sudden...I have more than half of this written though.

Enjoy the Chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 1**.

The next morning, Thirteen, Chase and Foreman sat in the office, looking at the file that Cuddy had left with them. "Where's Taub?" Thirteen finally asked, peaking her head up from the file.

"You're concerned about Taub?" Chase asked. "Taub will be in eventually, but if House doesn't get here then..."

"You'll all start worrying about me?" the voice said sympathetically. "No need. I am here to assuage your worrying little hearts."

Chase rolled his eyes. "Maybe we should start worrying about Taub now."

"I have him doing a little work," House replied, slamming his cane over the file that Thirteen was taking a close look at. "What are you reading?"

"A...file?"

House gave her an incredulous look. "Did Cuddy give it to you?" he asked, looking over his shoulder protectively.

"It was sitting in the room when we got here," Foreman replied. "And yes, Cuddy gave it to us. She left a note for you," he handed over a blue sticky note. House looked at it with little interest, crumbling it up in his hand. Foreman shook his head. "Don't you think that the note might be a little important to your job?"

"Nope."

Foreman sighed, turning back to the file that Thirteen had managed to slide out from under the cane.

"Well, you should like this case whether or not Cuddy's making you do it," said Thirteen. "A man named Seto Kaiba...hope I said that right...came in as a benefactor, he was speaking with Cuddy, had a sudden seizure...."

"Yeah yeah yeah," House said, rolling his hand. "I was there, get to the good part."

The three team members looked up to House with the same incredulous look that he had given them. "He has no epileptic history. In fact, he really has no big medical history except for one ER report from about....ten or twelve years ago."

"A seizure? That's it, nothing else?" House asked. He started to limp over to the other room but was stopped when Foreman said:

"You don't remember treating his little brother?"

House looked back, somewhat interested. "Depends. What cool outcome did the brother have?"

"Friedreich's ataxia, but it presented as a tachycardia and blurred vision."

House stood somewhat silent, his cane tapping his forehead. "Nope, don't remember him."

Foreman's arms flattened on the table. "Well, anyways. Cuddy thought you might be interested in trying to help the older brother this time."

"Sure he doesn't have the same disease? I heard it was genetic," he replied sarcastically.

"We'd believe that if he wasn't long out of the age range when it presents and the fact that a seizure isn't one of the symptoms." Chase said. "What'd you send Taub to do?"

"Interview the patient," House said, and quickly disappeared into his office before they could say anything else to him.

* * *

"This doesn't have to be difficult," Taub said, tapping a pen against a clipboard. "These are just general questions. They'll help us understand what's wrong."

"You can go away," the patient, Seto Kaiba said. "I don't need a second rate doctor pretending he knows what's wrong."

Taub sighed, lowering his head. Though he wanted to believe that there was a language barrier going on, it was obvious that Kaiba was fluent in English, and his understanding was just the same.

"All I need to know is things like medications you've been taking, if there's been any trauma."

"I guess I'm not saying it right," Kaiba glared the doctor down. "_Go away_."

"If I'm not the doctor you want, then who would you talk to?" Taub's arms fell to his sides. He was trying hard to be nice to the patient, but he might as well have been trying to pet an alligator and not expect to be bit.

Kaiba crossed his arms as he said: "House."

"Why did I not know..."Taub lowered his head."I am on Dr. House's team. Anything I do goes directly to him."

"I want to talk to him directly."

"That may be a little difficult."

"As I'm aware," Kaiba reached over for a phone that was lying on the bureau beside the bed. "Get House and I'll start talking."

Taub kicked the ground, but turned around and walked out of the room.

* * *

Taub casually approached his boss' office and sucked in a breath before coming in.

"What'd you find out?"

"He won't talk."

House threw a peanut up into the air, trying to catch it in his mouth as it came back down. "What do you mean he won't talk? Make him."

"He says he'll only talk to you."

House threw another peanut up again, only to have it fall down into his lap. "Tell him that you're part of the team."

"I did. He thinks I'm second rate."

"That's because you are," House stood up. "You couldn't even get him to tell you anything."

"Thanks. Helps my self-esteem so much."

"Get the other children and let me show you how it's done."

Taub diverged from House into the differential room, motioning for the group to follow their leader out toward the patient room.

As they approached, House stopped, looking through the glass window to see a second person now in the room in a wheelchair. "Something the matter?" Taub asked, walking ahead of House.

"The brother of the patient was a previous patient," Foreman said. "He was diagnosed when it was me and Chase," he explained. Taub nodded.

"Explains why he wants you then," Taub replied. "You actually have a patient who trusts your methods. Amazing."

House limped into the room ignoring Taub's comment. The moment he did, Kaiba seemed to lighten up a little bit. "Doesn't take much to get you out of your hole does it?" the businessman snipped at the doctor. The boy in the wheelchair looked over to the group of doctors floating in the room.

"Hi," he beamed, waving at them. "Remember me?"

"You're English has gotten better," Foreman commented.

"Much. Thanks of onii-san."

"'To' Moki," Kaiba corrected. He turned back to the group of doctors. "So, what's wrong?"

"Not sure. Usually a seizure is evidence of epilepsy, which I think you don't have but am not sure because you won't answer any of the questions."

Kaiba smirked. "I don't answer to second rate doctors," he turned to look at Taub. "I'm hoping he told you that."

"Onii-san, don't be so mean," Mokuba coaxed. "I'm sorry. He's always like this." Kaiba turned to say something to Mokuba, but seemed to change his mind. He looked back to House.

"I haven't had any trauma; I haven't been taking any medications." He said answering the two questions that Taub had tried probing him with. "What other things do you need to know?"

"Anything abnormal recently? Been anywhere you don't usually go? Anyone at your office been sick..."

"No, no, no..."Kaiba leaned back. "It's probably just a onetime thing and I shouldn't be wasting my time here. I have better things that I need to be doing."

The phone on the bureau began ringing again, Kaiba reaching over for it and picking it up. "What?"

House leaned back in his chair watching as the young CEO began to steadily get angry, speaking Japanese as he spoke to his PR. "How much does the press know? Just that I'm sick? Well if all they know then just tell them something that doesn't sound awful," Kaiba started to roll his eyes. "Yes I realize what the stocks are doing, but that's not your job to worry about. Why don't you tell them that standard tests are being run? And that's not a request, that's an order." He hung up the phone at that.

"Nii-san?"

"I'm fine," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"It's not a onetime thing, by the way," House replied in Japanese to the CEO "A generalized seizure is usually caused by something. If not epilepsy then by some sort of trauma or disease. And because of these events it would be in your best interest to stay here. And while here, it would also be good for you to treat my team with respect because...well, because I say so. And that's not a request, it's an order." House quipped, repeating Kaiba's words. The CEO simply smirked and rolled his head to look at Mokuba.

The group of doctors followed behind their leader out into the hallway. "What causes seizures?" he asked to the people following him.

"Drug withdrawals?" Chase suggested. "Wouldn't be surprising since he's rich and can easily get his hands on it."

"Stress," Thirteen said. "Hounded with work, can't get a break. Causes the seizure after too much."

"It's probably some sort of infection. Encephalitis or meningitis possibly," Foreman said. They all stopped when House stopped and turned around to them.

"Nothing to say?" he asked, directing it at Taub. It was obvious the doctor was still a bit scorned.

"I'm a second rate doctor right? It doesn't matter what I say." House stood silent, just looking at Taub. "Hypoglycemia. It can cause seizures in patients who are also non-diabetic, and at any age."

House nodded. "Alright then. Get a tox screen to see if it's drugs. An LP for infection, an MRI..."

"What do we need an MRI for?" Foreman asked. "There's nothing we mention that needs an MRI."

"There might be something in that brain of his that looks something like a tumor," House suggested. "Also start him on glucogen for the hypoglycemia, in the least it won't hurt him if that's not the cause...and have the nurses take his phone away from him. If the cause is stress that should cure it."

The four stood there, looking at one another. "Yeah yeah, it's broad but it's all we got," he said, and intended to send them off by turning around and walking toward the elevator.

While he heard sets of steps walking away, there was also one that was walking toward him.

"Why are you treating him?" Taub asked.

"I thought I told you guys to do something," House reprimanded.

"Yeah, but you don't think it's serious, he doesn't think it's serious. Maybe it's not serious. There might be nothing wrong with him and we can send him back where he belongs."

"He insulted you so you're going to let him die?" House said. "That's pretty harsh. You might have Chase beat."

"It's not that," Taub tried to say as convincingly as possibly. "He's a prick who probably just wants attention. He's getting all of us to bow down to him. His brother is sick after all; maybe he wants the attention instead of his little brother."

"I have something better for you to do than all the tests," House said, a grin on his face. Taub perked up a little bit. "How about you Google the guy, see what it comes up with." He said, then turned and went into the elevator. Taub sighed yet again.

* * *

Chase was standing back, looking at Kaiba in a somewhat disinterested fashion. "This is going to hurt a bit, but it will tell us if the seizure was caused by a...

"Infection right?" Kaiba said. He had already tucked his knees against his chest before Chase had asked him to. "You did this to Mokuba as well. I remember it."

"Just stay still, this should be over soon."

Kaiba took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Chase put the needle up near Kaiba's spine, only to back up a moment. "Are you cold?" Chase asked. Kaiba opened his eyes.

"No, why?"

"You're shaking pretty badly." Kaiba paused, bringing up his hand to see it shaking as if he were cold. "You didn't always do that did you?" Kaiba shook his head. "Try to keep it still as best as possibly while I do this."

Kaiba reverted back into the crouched position allowing Chase to put the needle in his back. Kaiba flinched.

* * *

"We have a new symptom," Chase said, walking into the differential room. "Tremors."

House wrote the symptom on the white board. "And the LP...?"

"Came back negative. Whatever it is, it's not an infection."

"Tremors and a seizure..."Foreman said. "It sounds neurological. The MRI's probably a good idea now."

House started to nod to himself, the team not really noticing. "And while you were all doing that, Taub," the team all turned to Taub sitting away from everybody else, looking at the screen of a laptop.

"I did as you asked, _boss_," he replied. "Although there are hundreds of thousands of searches, I found a few interesting fact sites," he said. "I don't know how trustworthy they are. There is a consistency in a few pieces of data though. Apparently he's been known to starve himself on occasion and he has an IQ of 165."

"How else do you become a CEO at 18?" House said. "Starvation can lead to low glucose levels which can lead to seizing. Since we already started him on the glucogen," he said, probing the team for answers. They nodded, "good. The lack of meat on him's probably causing the tremors, making him cold. Get him something to eat. I want to watch what happens."

* * *

A/N: So....is he really? Anyways, till next time, KenSan out!


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Well...tho I'm not getting many reviews I'm happy with the alerts and favs so...I guess that works. Someone's reading it. On with the show!

* * *

**Chapter 2.**

Kaiba turned to the sound of the door opening, Thirteen coming in with a tray, House shortly behind. "Not now," he demanded, half muffled by the pillow.

"Nurses woke him up," Mokuba said, filling the two in. "He's a little cranky."

"I can imagine so, if you're not eating than you have to do something to compensate."

Mokuba looked surprised and turned toward his brother, then back to Thirteen who was putting the tray of food on the cart.

"I'm not starving myself. I'm not a high school girl."

"Sure. The lime light's hard. You just forgot a few weeks of meals." House accused. "Either way it's probably the reason that you're in here. Hypoglycemia is..."

"A lack of glucose in the body. Usually attributes to diabetics," Kaiba finished. "You guys already have me on something, that should do it shouldn't it?"

"It would, but I want to see if you're really repulsed by eating," House said, plopping down next to Mokuba. The younger boy looked up to the doctor with a somewhat scared look on his face.

"Nii-san wouldn't do that. I would not let him," Mokuba said. House looked down to the boy.

"How much further have you progressed?" he asked. Thirteen stopped to watch the interaction, holding the fork suspended in her hand before handing it to the CEO.

"We had a rod put in him to stop the scoliosis. We were coming back to follow up on some experimental treatments," Kaiba replied. "His muscles are getting weaker and his sight's starting to impair."

"Huh," he turned to look at Thirteen who smiled at him, nodding her head in some sort of approval.

Thirteen handed Kaiba the fork, to which he started in on the food that was on the tray. "Not starving myself," he said finally, taking in several bites. "This food sucks though." Mokuba laughed at what his brother said, and smiled. "You want to sit and watch me eat the whole thing to prove that that's not it or..."Kaiba stopped mid sentence, his hand going to his neck. He started to make a gagging nose, leaning over the tray trying to cough up what was stuck. Finally, after a few moments, he stopped gagging, forcing the food down.

"Are you alright?" Thirteen asked, leaning the man back. Kaiba lightly nodded.

"What happened nii-san? Did you choke?"

"No...it...it wouldn't...it wouldn't go down..." he stuttered out the words. "Am I still starving myself?" he asked harshly, coughing afterwards.

House looked a Thirteen strongly. "Get an MRI, see what's playing around in his brain."

* * *

Wilson wasn't so surprised that when he opened the door to his office that he saw House sitting in one of the lounge chairs near the desk. "I heard an interesting bit of gossip," Wilson said, cutting off the diagnostician before he could say anything. "From Thirteen no less...I wasn't aware that you were concerned for a patient's follow up."

"What are you talking about?"

"Denial is a river in Egypt by the way," Wilson added. "I'm talking about your patient's brother I believe." Wilson sat at his desk, pushing a few files around.

"I asked him how bad he was getting."

"That's a follow up," said Wilson. "Especially when you have another patient you were attending to at the time," Wilson looked at his friend for the longest time trying to gauge his reactions. The stoic look on the diagnostician's face gave him not answers. "It's a good thing. You're concerned about a patient's well being for once which is really, really surprising."

"I have to distract myself somehow. So far the kid's the only thing that's interesting."

"Have you found out what's wrong with the older brother yet?"

House shrugged. "I should know in a little bit," he said. "He's pretty boring for being the CEO of multinational company."

"Not all of them are drug addicts and having affairs. The Japanese are pretty proper anyways," Wilson started writing something down, hoping that his ignoring of House would make the doctor go away. "Just curious," he said, as an afterthought, "if you don't think he's interesting, then why not give the case to another doctor? If it's so easy..."

"Cuddy asked me to."

"No, that wouldn't be it," Wilson said. "We're past the stages of you trying to impress Cuddy and win her back. If anything you would be retaliating by not taking this case."

The door to Wilson's office opened up revealing Foreman looking in on the two. "Great, just welcome the whole gang in," Wilson sighed, "its normal enough now."

"The MRI was clean," Foreman said outright.

House lowered his head, thinking. Foreman looked over to Wilson who in turn looked over to House.

"Seizure, tremors, and difficulty swallowing..."he said, looking at the white board."Boy he couldn't be more boring."

"I think we crossed the 'boring' line when all of his neurological symptoms had no neurological cause," Foreman said.

"What about our drug theory?"

"Tox screen came back clean too. This kid might as well have grown up in a bubble. He's pretty well perfect," Chase said.

"What was the ER report back from ten or twelve years ago?" House said, looking over to Thirteen where she had originally brought it up. Thirteen started to dig through the files.

"Um...well...it was just showing where he'd broke his arm when he was a kid. He said he fell, nothing too serious. It was a clean break," Thirteen said.

"What if the hypoglycemia isn't the cause but it's a symptom?" Taub asked.

"His glucose levels aren't really all that low," said Chase. "A little lower than the normal person but it isn't too big a deal. He wouldn't be seizing because of it."

Suddenly the sound of pagers filled the room, each of the doctor's looking at their pagers then looking up to House already starting for the door. Taub smiled when seeing that he had written 'hypoglycemia' on the board with a question mark next to it.

When the group arrived at the room there were already nurses attending, but it had become obvious that another seizure had started. One of the nurses was fighting with the convulsing body to try and administer diazepam. It took several, but he finally calmed down, a mild tic finally wearing out.

"Up the dose of glucogen," House said to the air, the four looking at him. "What might be normal for us may be really low for him."

"Hypoglycemia doesn't explain the difficulty swallowing," Foreman pressed. "It's a neurological issue."

"One so small we couldn't see?"

"You're all out for those types of things," Foreman said. "You're usually suggesting a brain biopsy by now."

"It's not neurological, whatever it is," House said, turning around. "It's hypoglycemia. Up the glucogen and make sure he isn't missing meals. He should be getting better soon enough."

As House walked away, Taub began smiling to himself. "Well, guess I was right this time," he said proudly.

"It's not hypoglycemia," Foreman said. "I know that, you know that, House knows that. This case is still boring to him, so he's going with a simple explanation to get it out of the way."

"Should we up the glucogen then?" Chase peeked into the room. Mokuba was holding onto his older brother's hand.

"Do it. And put him on something to hold back the seizing. It's happened twice, it's going to happen again," Foreman ordered, walking away. Chase followed Foreman down the hall leaving Thirteen and Taub to themselves.

"Is something the matter?" Thirteen asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"You seem tense about this whole case," she said. "Maybe I'm just seeing things," she turned around, stepping into the room. Mokuba turned away from his brother and maneuvered the chair around to look at Thirteen. Taub followed her in.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. You're just...not yourself. You're mad at everybody," she said.

"Um..."Mokuba's small voice entered the duo's conversation."Can I talk to you guys?" he asked.

"Sure," Thirteen said confidently. "What about?"

"Well, it's about Seto," he said. "There's probably come stuff that he won't tell you and I don't know if it's important."

"Do...do you want us to get Dr. House?" Thirteen asked, pointing out the door.

"No, no...Could you, you know," he made a closing motion. "The door?"

"Yeah, sure," Thirteen went over, sliding the glass door shut. "What's up?"

"When Dr. House came in and said he was...wasn't eating. That has happened before," Mokuba admitted, "but he hasn't done it since last year. He was just, going crazy I guess..."

"If he's been eating properly then it shouldn't be affecting him," Thirteen admitted. Mokuba lowered his head, his fingers fiddling around. The female doctor came over to the boy, pulling a chair up next to him. "Is there something that you're not telling us?"

"I'm not sure," Mokuba admitted. "I don't know what you could need that..." he looked back quickly at his brother.

"He'll probably be out for a little bit," Thirteen said. "Whatever it is, you can tell us."

"He gets weird at home," Mokuba finally said. "Most of the time he's fine. He's the perfect older brother and everything but...sometimes it's like he has these moments."

"What are they like?" Thirteen asked.

"He gets..." Mokuba searched for his words. "Confused and...sometimes he...can't think straight. I know he works a lot but...I don't know if that's it. He just...loses it."

"Is he aggressive?"

"No, lost."

"Does he recognize you or does it seem like he's in some other sort of state of mind?" Thirteen pressed. She looked over at Kaiba when Mokuba did. Taub stood back, his arms crossed.

"He...starts telling me things from when we were kids. That he's going to be protecting me, and he starts talking about the amusement park he's going to build. And it's already up and running in Tokyo and everything so..." Mokuba shook his head. "I don't know."

"Signs of dementia," Thirteen said quietly. She stood up and walked over to Kaiba, picking up one of his hands. "He's still shaking a bit," she said, looking over to Taub. "When's the last time he's had one of these episodes?"

"Huh?"

"When he couldn't remember," Thirteen said. "When was the last time?"

"Shortly before we left. It didn't last too long..."

"Is there anything else?" Taub asked, looking at Thirteen strongly. They seemed to both have the same idea in mind.

"No...no I don't think so."

Thirteen put down Kaiba's hand and turned to leave, Taub following her out.

* * *

"So, how's the patient?" Thirteen heard when she opened the door to the differential room. Cuddy was sitting at the head of the table, looking at House curiously.

"Fine," he replied. He took one look at Thirteen and Taub and used it to get away from Cuddy. "What took you so long?"

"We found something out from the brother," Thirteen said. "He's having episodes of dementia, and apparently they're pretty frequent."

"So, adding the dementia to the list," House said, doing as he had said, "what does that bring us too?"

Cuddy looked at the board somewhat stricken.

"He doesn't have hypoglycemia," Foreman said from the back. "His levels are just a smidge under the norm. If we rule that out..." House crossed it out, crossing the smile off of Taub's face.

"Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease," Chase said, disheartened.

"So, who's going to tell him he's dying?" House asked, staring at the symptoms for a different meaning.

"I will," Thirteen accepted.

"No," Cuddy stopped them. "He still has tremors. Tremors are not a sign of CJD," she said, picking up a marker and circling the symptom again and again. "He's not dying, this is something else."

"Tremors could easily be the onset of myoclonus," House said. "It's CJD."

"Then I want you to get a sample of brain tissue and see," Cuddy said. "Because when you do you'll see that it's not," and she walked out, her heels nearly pounding on the ground.

House stamped his cane on the ground a few times, and then nodded at what Cuddy said. "Go take a piece of his brain, see what we can find. After that, Thirteen will tell him the prognosis."

* * *

A/N: So...is it CJD? You think...?We'll see


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Hello people! I'm having fun with this story so I hope everyone else is. Sorry if the updates are a little slower. I've been changing some things with what I've written so it sounds nice when you read it...so I'm sorry for the delay.

It's also been brought ot my attention that I've failed to give you a good idea of what the ages of Kaiba and Mokuba are...and I'm sorry but they're never stated in what I've written. I actually have Kaiba at 22 and Mokuba at sixteen.

so...on with the show!

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"We believe you have a disease known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease," Thirteen said. She tried her best to keep eye contact with Kaiba. "To be sure we need to test by sampling a piece of brain tissue. We'll drill a small hole into your skull and extract the tissue," she said, holding the clipboard for consent. "We need your consent for the procedure."

She walked over, handing Kaiba the consent form. He started to skim it, but then looked up at Thirteen. "What is Creutzfeldt-Jakob?" he said, trying to twist his tongue around the words.

"It's a brain condition."

"Well, I figured," Kaiba snapped. "Considering all the symptoms are coming from my brain."

Thirteen sighed. "It's a degenerative brain disease. It's a disease that really seems to be eating at the brain. At this point in time there is no cure for CJD, but there are a few treatments and studies that have been in the works trying to lengthen the lifespan of the patient."

"How long is the 'lifespan?'" he asked.

Thirteen paused, looking at Mokuba as if he would change the facts.

"It's not for sure this is what you have, so don't be thinking that this is it. It's why we're running the test. There are still a few possibilities that might hold true in this case," Thirteen said. Kaiba looked down to the form, reading over the words quickly. He took the pen from Thirteen and quickly signed it, handing it back to her.

"Alright."

* * *

Mokuba sat up on the observation deck of the operation room alone, looking at the surgical team as they started to put the drill bit into his brother's skull. Mokuba turned away, looking at the screen that was in the room, then down at his lap where he was holding his locket.

"Cool huh?" he heard, forcing him to bring his head up and look at the person who had just entered.

"I thought you didn't do these things," Mokuba commented, opening up the locket to look at the picture of his brother when they were kids.

"I figured I would be nice for once," House said, coming toward Mokuba. "What're you playing with?"

"It's a locket," he said, holding it up so House could see it. "Seto has one just like it." House looked down as the boy put the locket back around his neck. "Seto's mean a lot, but he's a good person. He just has things that get in the way, if you know what I mean," Mokuba said. He looked up to House to see if the doctor was paying attention. Though the diagnostician pretended to play possum, Mokuba smiled. "He's always working, and always trying to do the best for everybody. He does good but no one really sees it like that 'cause he does it in a weird way. Like contributing to this hospital…he'll do it, but he really doesn't want anyone to know he does anything. I don't know…maybe he's just crazy and things aren't suppose to make sense.I know he's a good person, I guess that's all that really matters in the end huh?"

Mokuba had talked despite hearing House walk away from him and hearing the door to the observation deck closing. He lowered his head to his lap, and then looked back up to his brother, his lip trembling.

* * *

Foreman was in the lab, looking into a microscope at the brain matter of Seto Kaiba. "So, what do we have?" House asked, looking over Foreman's shoulder, waiting for a response. Cuddy was standing next to Foreman, just as eager to see what the prognosis was.

"Nothing really conclusive. There's a little gray matter but, not conclusive to say its CJD," he said, moving so that House and Cuddy could look into the microscope as well. Once both were finished, Cuddy looked at House stiffly.

"What do you want me to do boss?" he asked with a look of innocence on his face. Cuddy looked into the microscope yet again and sighed.

"Tell him it's inconclusive," she said. "Not that it _is_ CJD, but that it _might be_ CJD."

House nodded, passing by Foreman, walking out the lab door.

* * *

Thirteen came back into Kaiba's room, the results of the test in her hands. She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, carefully stepping into the room. For a moment she observed the brothers playing a game of chess, Kaiba taking a moment to move a bishop across the board.

"Check," he murmured, moving back to look at Thirteen. He was looking worse as she looked at him more. A bandage was on the back of his head, a headband of netting holding the gauze on, circling around his forehead. "You have something you want to say?"

"The results are inconclusive," she said directly, "which just means it could be or could not be CJD. But you do need to know that Creutzfeldt-Jakob is deadly; it kills the nerve cells that are in the brain. The lifespan of someone with it is usually 13 or 14 months, though in some occasions, because we catch it early enough, we can treat it somewhat, but that may only go to about four or five years."

Kaiba looked over to his little brother who had already tried to move his king out of the deadlock. Kaiba lowered his head, moving another piece as he uttered: "Checkmate."

Thirteen walked across the room, sitting down on the corner of the bed. "I know this sounds harsh, and I'm sorry but, if it's any consolation," Thirteen was about to tell him that she too was dying but decided against it as she watched as the young CEO started to curl into himself, one arm slinging over his knees that bunched against his chest. The other hand was covering his face. She looked to Mokuba, his face contorting with sadness.

"I'll go schedule a psych consult..."

"No more doctors!" Kaiba roared. "No more! No more of you second rate hacks! Where's House? I want to talk to him!"

"He's just going to tell you the same thing," Thirteen said. "There's nothing we can do..."

"Shut up," the CEO snarled. "Let me talk to House."

Thirteen stood up, looked at Mokuba one last time, and then started to walk out, holding her breath as she did. A few paces later she came across her boss coming her way.

"He doesn't believe me," she said. House limped by her, stopping in front of the sliding glass door. "He's throwing a tantrum, says he won't talk to anyone but you."

Though the older man was listening to her, he wasn't indulging himself in her words. He watched as the younger brother eased himself up and out of his wheelchair, grappling onto the side of the bed to steady himself. The older brother, in response, seemed to shove him away, telling him something that House couldn't hear. The younger brother shook his head and worked until he was sitting up on the side of the bed next to the older brother.

"He believes you," House said, then sarcastically added: "Typically people get upset when they're told they're dying."

"I know but...he's just..." Thirteen looked up to House, and then nodded. "I guess you're right."

"What do you mean you guess? I'm always right," House said, but despite that, there was something that Thirteen could see was missing. The way that House was staring into the room was unnerving. It was one of those looks that he gave only when he was really into something. "Too bad he never got interesting," House finally said, walking away from the scene. Thirteen kept looking into the room, wondering if she could see what he boss was seeing. By now Mokuba was hugging his brother, probably trying to console him that everything was going to be alright. Thirteen walked away after not seeing anything that would help her.

* * *

There was a steady hum-drum about the hospital night life. Everything seemed to go to sleep. Most of the hospital was in darkness except for the halls, and there were fewer nurses milling about.

It didn't make a wandering patient look any less strange.

Mokuba had gone back to their hotel earlier that night, saying good bye to his brother and promising that he would be back in the morning. It was the best the younger brother could do in efforts to console the older.

In the late hours, Set Kaiba wandered about the halls of Princeton-Plainsboro, almost as if he were taking in the sights. His hand held close to the wall, holding him up as he looked around in semi-paranoia. He took a heavy breath and forced himself further. His trembling body couldn't control itself; he always wanted to fall over in weakness. Despite that, there was a mission in him to keep going.

In his free hand, the hand that wasn't hugging the wall, his locket hung lifelessly, swaying as he moved along. At each sound he would turn his head, wondering where his treasure was. Finally he yelled out: "Mokuba!" to a nearly empty hallway.

Nurses took alert to the sudden noise, going toward Kaiba curiously, trying to coax him back to bed. Almost instinctively he swatted them away, yelling at them in Japanese as he did. He jolted off in a run, trying to escape any nurses or orderlies that were around.

Finally the young CEO stumbled into a more open area, overlooking the lobby of the hospital. He stopped, looking at the few people that milled about, at the nurse that was at the station, and the person that was leaving. But he didn't seem to see what everyone else saw. It was some sort of fantastic fantasy, some sort of weird escapade. He's escaped into his own worst nightmare and was looking at the hospital he was in when he'd broken his arm, looking at the people that he saw before.

He leaned over the railing, his foot stepping up on the bottom bar.

"Seto!" he heard someone call. At first he didn't want it to seem like he could hear. The voice drew closer. "Seto! Seto what are you..."

"You took him!" he turned in a final effort, staring at the man before him. In a typical plain of reality it could be seen as Taub, somewhat distraught and concerned, but Taub nonetheless. To Kaiba it looked more sinister and cruel. The twisted hazy images of yesteryear floated before him and ceased to leave. "You took him!" he yelled, yet again, in Japanese. "I'm not a stupid child! I'm not! I'm not!" he pleaded, much like his younger self would have. "Where did you take him?"

There was a second set of footsteps. As if reality had two planes before him, he saw not only Taub as the sinister evil before him, but he saw House as a secondary, almost angelic figure, if it could be said.

"What'd he take from you?" House asked, wrapping his tongue around the Japanese syllables.

"Where's Mokuba! Why'd you take him, I didn't do anything," his pleading, once a cry of rage had turned into a cry of misery, his eyes misting up but not crying. "I did everything you said, everything!" he was looking back at Taub, "but you can't just settle it at that!"

Taub looked over to House, the diagnostician smirking at the encounter. He limped over slowly, overshadowing the CEO. "What happened?"

"You understand," Kaiba finally said, looking to House strongly. "You know. I can see it in your face. You don't do a thing and things are just ripped from you. Without that perfection," Kaiba backed away, the locket swinging madly in his hand. He leaned on the railing again. "You're nothing. You're worthless to him. He takes every ounce out of you, and then he expects..."

Taub looked to House, curious what the translation was. House stepped closer to the boy.

"How long?"

"What?"

"How long has this been going on?'

There was a shift, a shift that could be smelled a mile away. "Get away from me you son-of-a-bitch!" he growled hatefully. "Get away! I don't need you...I don't!" his arm swung out, the locket flaying in the wind. "Go! Go away!"

House sighed. "Oh boy," he wiped his hand with his face, looking back to Taub. Out of his pocket he pulled a syringe, Taub's face somewhat shocked, but after a moment it faded away. "How long?" House persisted, limping closer to the CEO.

"Go away! Go..." the suddenly, before House even had to administer the sedative he kept with him, Kaiba fell over. There was no convulsing, no writhing in pain, he just fell over. Kaiba, in response, probed the issue as well, picking up his right leg with his left arm. His right arm wasn't working either. "What did you do to me?" he demanded. "What did you do...?"

* * *

A/N: Dum dum dum...

More symptoms. Wheee...

Also, I would like to mention that I actually have started the prequel for this...in which is the case with Mokuba. You may know the outcome already, but it's still fun to see how it went along. When I finish this one I'll put that one up as well, that is, if anyone is interested.

Till next time, KenSan out!


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: I thank you for waiting for the next installment. Thank you to all those who favorited, alerted or reviewed. Just felt I should say. Well, on with the show.

**Chapter 4.**

"Now things are getting interesting," House said, flicking around the dry erase marker. He'd added 'psychosis' and 'right side paralysis'. "What walks, talks and smells like a neurological disease but isn't?"

"What were you talking to him about? Was it significant?" Taub questioned.

"Nope."

"Then why did you look so intense?" He continued.

"Two inches away from jumping off the balcony is kinda intense dontcha think?" House retorted. "Back to the question..."

"You couldn't understand them?" Thirteen questioned.

"They were speaking Japanese I think." Taub answered

"The conversation wasn't significant," House said, "can we got on with the differential?"

"You were talking to him for two or three minutes...somewhat, then he started yelling again-"

"Wait a minute, why did this case just get interesting?" Chase butted in. House, somewhat relieved to be away from Taub's questions, looked to Chase, acknowledging his question. "I mean, all these symptoms are neurological but the cause doesn't seem to be. So either you're seeing something that we're not, or there really was something interesting with the conversation."

"A decent set of symptoms can't be interesting?" House looked to Foreman. "You gonna sit there all quiet or are we going to get to enjoy your company too?"

Foreman, in response, said: "I'm going with these two. There was something that he told you that you're not telling us. That's not fair."

"Fine, I'll figure it out myself," he said, turning his back to the team, then stood up, walking out of the room leaving them to look amongst themselves.

"I say we run another MRI," Chase said, "if it wasn't in his brain before it might be now."

"I feel like I've seen these symptoms before," Thirteen mentioned. "But I'm not sure where..."

"Run the MRI," Foreman said, sighing. "I'm going to find where House went to. He either knows what it is and is pulling our legs, or he really has no idea and just wants to probe more _interesting _information from this kid."

* * *

House had fully intended on going to see the elder Kaiba, but was intercepted along the way by Wilson. "Where you headed?"

"Does it matter?"

"Is it the patient's room?" Wilson asked.

"Again, does it matter?"

"I think it does," Wilson said, stopping his friend. House sighed, narrowly turning so he could give his friend an aggravated look. "What happened last night? I've been hearing gossip about you and your patient last night on the balcony."

"He had a psychotic break."

"Well, not according to your team," Wilson stopped. "You're not really trying to diagnose this kid are you? You're just jerking him around and letting him die."

"What makes you think that?" House said, turning and continuing to limp down the hall.

"Well, the fact that you're starting to avoid me is a really key reason," Wilson followed the diagnostician, stopping for a moment. "If the only reason you took this case was because of Cuddy, then tell her there's no reason that you should be taking it."

"Since you clearly pointed out that he's dying," House said, turning around to confront Wilson, "I don't think I can just hand it back to her."

"Give the case to another doctor if you're not going to try and treat him. At least give the kid a little respect. He's certainly giving you way too much."

It seemed like a startling comment, but it wasn't enough to deter House. It was a momentary pause, nothing serious, and then he started walking again. Wilson was still behind him, following him down the hall as they approached the patient's room.

"I am treating him. It's not because of Cuddy and he's not dying anymore," House said, "at least, not of what we thought it was." In the room Kaiba was still sedated, Mokuba sitting next to him, curious as to the need of the sedation.

"How long has he been sedated?"

"Don't know. Making sure he doesn't go crazy again," House said, and then thought a moment. "Maybe I should wake him up, might be interesting."

"Now you're just being torturous."

"Who on the team has been running to you?" House asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"There's someone that's been coming and whining to you. The first time you said it was Thirteen, but she has no reason to talk to you unless there's something there," House said, making an exaggerated shiver, "that'd just be wrong, but then again..."

"House," Wilson nearly barked.

"It's probably Taub," he said, "and by the look on your face I'm guessing I'm right, right?"

"So Taub's talking to me about the crazy things going on with your case, is there something so wrong with that?" Wilson asked, almost flabbergasted. He knew that that defense wasn't going to hold long, but was thankful when he heard another team member's voice call out:

"House!" From behind came Foreman, striding up casually. "You have something you're planning on doing to the kid?"

"Nope."

"I'm taking him for another MRI," he said, making sure it wasn't stated as a question.

"I thought we agreed that it wasn't neurological."

"We didn't agree on anything," Foreman argued. "You're the only one that doesn't think it's neurological."

House, in an attempt to make his employee angry, looked over to Wilson and said. "Doesn't it sound strange, the neurologist thinking it's neurological?"

"If we don't find anything on the MRI then I'm going to see if we can get a brain biopsy."

Wilson, somewhat confused, looked between the employer and the employee, curious as to when the switch had occurred.

"There's no reason to do a biopsy," House said. "Not that Cuddy's going to let you anyways."

With a shimmer in his eye Foreman said: "We'll see."

* * *

"A brain biopsy?" Cuddy was looking at Kaiba's file with a bit of astonishment. "Why a brain biopsy?" She was looking between her head of diagnostics and the employee of the head of diagnostics, wondering why she was asking the question to Foreman instead of House.

"Because all the signs say it's neurological, but we can't find anything. There's something there that we can't see for some reason or other."

"And you say no because..."she asked, pointing the file toward House.

"Because I know it's not neurological."

There was a bit of dumbfoundness in the room. Cuddy considered that maybe it was a dream, but then she couldn't get so lucky. Either way, there was a House in the room; she just wasn't sure which one was the real one.

"Is that all?"

"Ye-ep, pretty much."

She looked back to Foreman. "The brain tissue test was inconclusive for CJD, was there anything else in there that might prove you need to do more searching?"

"Any results of that tissue sample would be inconclusive."

Cuddy stood up when seeing a nurse standing in her outer office, looking somewhat distressed. "I need more evidence than that," she said to Foreman. "Give me something I can work with, then if it's good enough you can cut Mr. Kaiba's head open, but not a moment sooner."

As she walked out House said: "Told ya so," and proceeded to follow the Dean of Medicine out of the office.

* * *

"Why are you doing this _again_?" Kaiba demanded, not hiding the fact that he was pissed off with team. "If it was clean the first time then it will be clean again."

Foreman hung his head a moment, and then pressed the button to the microphone. "We need you to stay as still as possible please." The neurologist was trying to stay calm with the CEO. Standing beside Foreman was Thirteen and Chase.

"He's got a point," Thirteen said.

"When the kid gets a medical license I'll start listening to him." Foreman added. "It's not like he's going anywhere anyways."

"That's just mean." Chase said.

"Don't you have something better to be doing?" Foreman asked Chase, giving him a glare out of the corner of his eye. Chase put his hands up in surrender and took a step back, but refused to leave the room.

"I'll stay still when you idiots figure out why I'm shaking," Kaiba nearly threatened, but chuckled to himself nonetheless. Foreman rolled his eyes and pressed the button to the microphone again.

"Shut up and this will get done much sooner," said Foreman, trying to match Kaiba's battle words.

"Looking clean," Thirteen said, glancing between the screen and Foreman. "If it is all clean, what do we do then?"

"Find a way to prove to Cuddy that we need to biopsy the brain. If there isn't anything that can be seen on the MRI then there's a micro tumor or something that we can't see on this kind of imaging."

After the MRI was finished, Chase went out to the Kaiba, ready to help him out of the machine. For a moment he was stunned, but then just started to smile. "Looks like he fell asleep."

"Pretty calm for a man who's dying," Thirteen replied. Kaiba opened his eyes when she said that, forcing her to smile at him, feeling bad for reminding him of his possible fate.

* * *

Taub was left alone in the differential room, staring at the white board that seemed to be mocking him the longer he stared at it. It was just as Thirteen had said; it seemed like they all knew what the problem was, but it was just out of their reach. It seemed that way even to their boss, not that Taub wasn't somewhat relieved at that thought.

The door between his boss' office and the differential room opened, Taub stirring to look at his boss. "What else did you find on your scavenger hunt?" House asked, catching the doctor off guard.

"What scavenger hunt?"

"What scavenger..."House rolled his eyes.

"You mean when you asked me to look up info on Kaiba?"

"Yeah. That."

"Not much more that was interesting. Nothing too out of the ordinary, at least, not for a billionaire like him."

"Well, tell me anything that seems strange."

"Kinda useless when you don't have a home to break into isn't it?" Taub said, trying his hand at mocking his boss. It didn't seem very affective. "I don't think what I can tell you is going to help you much."

"Did any of them say anything about travel?"

"He travels a lot. Got his own little jet though," Taub said. "He's a noted perfectionist too; borderline OCD."

"Cleanly OCD?"

"I would suppose," Taub replied.

"What kind of stuff does he do for fun?"

"Nothing really. He's a workaholic. Work is his fun," Taub stopped. House was sitting next to him in a chair that was turned backwards. "He did play chess when he was younger. He was pretty good at it apparently."

"Chess..."House said absent mindedly. He stood up, walking out of the room, leaving Taub to stare at the white board again.

* * *

Mokuba had been falling asleep in his chair as the day drew on. His brother was distant and tired, but he seemed unable to fall asleep, which didn't startled Mokuba too much. The door opened up, drawing the brother's attention to the tray that was being rolled in first. On top of it was a laid out chess board ready to be played. Mokuba glanced over to Kaiba, smiling at the fact that his brother, too, was smiling.

"Care for a game?"

Kaiba seemed to be a loss for words, leaning back further into his pillow. "Does it matter what I answer?"

House put the tray on the left side of the bed. He looked across seeing the younger brother smiling. In response Kaiba turned his head and said: "Why don't you go get something from the cafeteria? You haven't eaten all day."

Knowing well that he wasn't wanted, Mokuba nodded and wheeled himself out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"I assume you want to talk about last night?" Kaiba deduced.

"What makes you think that?" Kaiba turned, looking at the board. The clock on the side was wound, ready to go. House picked up one of the white pawns, moving it, slapping the clock. "You seem willing to talk about it."

"Not really."

"Are you going to?

"Is it diagnostically relevant?"

"What happens if I say no?" House asked. All the while the chess pieces were moving at an astounding speed, though it was very obvious that the game wasn't what either of them were interested in.

"I can't make you talk about anything," House replied, moving a bishop across the board. "Check."

Kaiba sneered at the move, using one of his pieces to take the bishop. "What do you want me to say to you about it? That it screwed me up inside?" he asked, swallowing heavily. There was something about that that caught the diagnostician's attention.

"Not just on the inside," House commented. "Check."

Kaiba managed to laugh. "Cute, very cute." Kaiba retaliated on the move, taking the piece that had him in check. "Started when I was ten years old up until the day that Gozaburo jumped out the window," said Kaiba, indicating the giant news report a few years back about it. It was such a big deal that even House recognized the name.

"Your casualness makes you sound like a moron."

"I prefer not to think about it a lot."

House moved a piece across the board. "Check."

"You know what I'm learning about you? You're really aggressive." He said taking the piece that one again had him in check. "Attacking me with your pieces. It's like you want to be caught. So let's cut to the chase," Kaiba said, trying to push the board away from him. "How much do you think you know about me?"

"I know your guardian was a pretentious ass and it's seemed to have rubbed off on you," he said. "But, then again, that is the only way to get what you want in the world isn't it?" House moved the board back, taking yet another piece and going toward the king. This time it wasn't in check, but Kaiba could see that it was going to be soon enough. "That's what you were taught to do. Be a prick as it suited you, so long as you were the one that won in the end right?" House took the piece that Kaiba was assuming was going to be attacking his king and moved it away, grabbing one of Kaiba's knights.

"What does that matter?" Kaiba seemed to slink back, his voice falling somewhat.

"What kind of abuse?"

Kaiba swallowed yet again, reaching for the glass that was on the bureau. "Does the kind make it any less awful?" Kaiba asked. "Gozaburo was a ruthless man, wanted everyone to do things his way. If that didn't happen…"Kaiba took a drink from the glass, swallowing with a pained look on his face, "well…he…"Kaiba began to cough a bit where the drink wasn't going down.

"Took anything from you that really mattered?" House made a move.

"Pretty much."

As was Kaiba's nature when it came to winning a game, he took the most opportune moment when looking at the chess board and moved in on his opponent's unprotected king. "Checkmate." House looked down at the board, his mind going over the moves that had just happened. There was something about it that didn't seem to add up, but the more he looked at the bored he realized what the mistake was.

"Stare at the board all you want," Kaiba said, reaching over and grabbing the king. "It's mine now." Kaiba seemed to covet the small chess piece, swinging it between his fingers egotisitcally. "Come back anytime you want."

"Interesting..." House muttered to himself, staring at the CEO fervently. "Since you obvioulsy feel like being rather vague about whatever happened, I'm going to assume that you're not talking."

"I answered your questions," Kaiba said, tossing the piece in the air and watching it come down again. "That's all that matters right?" Kaiba saw that Mokuba was comign back from the cafateria, something that House noticed as well. "Don't you have something doctorly that you should be doing?"

House nodded absently taking the chess board out with him, making sure to grab the king from Kaiba who smiled in pride at his accomplishment.

* * *

A/N: Dun dun dun...and it's not impossible for House to lose at chess. I think the episode "The Jerk" in season three somewhat proved that theory...I guess...anyways, till next time, KenSan out!


	6. Chapter 5

**5.**

"He _beat_ you at _chess_?" Wilson marveled. His friend was sitting on the couch, staring at the chess board that was in front of him. He was trying to remember the moves, messing around with the pieces in the order that he remembered best. "How long'd that take?"

"He didn't beat me..."House said quietly to himself. There was a certain amount of pride that he was dealing with. "There was something that went wrong in the whole thing."

"So what? The genius had to cheat to beat you? I don't think that's it exactly..."Wilson drawled off. "You lost, it happens."

"He was playing stupid with me the entire time. He was letting me take his pieces. Every move that he was making was making me want to make a move."

"That's a beginner tactic isn't it?" House's face tweaked when Wilson said that.

"He didn't do it like a beginner," House said, moving the pieces in the beginning of the game. "He set up a defense then let me break right through it," there was a moment, as House pondered, that he realized what he was saying was like how their conversation went. Kaiba seemed willing to talk, until he didn't. Like he was willing to lose, until he didn't.

"The kid has an IQ of what? 160 something? Don't feel too bad for falling into a trap. It looks like he had it intricately set."

"He was using the story to make sure I wasn't paying as much attention to the game," House said. "He's a conniving little bastard."

"That you've taken interest in. That you always had interest in," Wilson said. "Which is why you took the case from Cuddy, is it not?" House chose not to respond to that, playing the pieces out again.

"Nope, guess again," House said, treating it like a game.

"The pieces aren't going to tell you a whole lot about him. And what story was he using that distracted you, since you really don't get distracted by the normal things. He must have been telling you that he was abused or something."

"Riiight, because people just decide that they want to tell _that_ to the random doctor they play chess with," House said. "He's a public figure. They would have caught onto it by now if it was true."

Wilson shook his head. "It's amazing how you're getting mad at this kid for beating you at chess. Can't you just admit that he beat you and move on?" House was disinterested in Wilson, which only made Wilson consider things further. "Wait a minute...you find this kid interesting because you connect with him don't you? Because he _was_ abused."

"I wasn't abused," House retorted, but let everything else Wilson say stand. "But that doesn't explain why I'd take the case in the first place now does it? Go on, keep guessing, you're doing great."

"That's because you treated his brother. I remember that case, you were particulary interested in the younger brother too," as if Wilson had his own little 'ah-ha' moment, he said: "But you weren't interested in the younger brother at all. You were interested in the older one. You knew that Kaiba was abused, and you wanted to probe but had no reason to."

"Boy this is getting melodramatic," House sighed. "Glad you know so much about me that I don't."

"This is a good thing. This means that you actually had some connection with a person in the past. It's a breakthrough...even if it's a creepy one."

"I didn't have a connection with him. Me and him have nothing to "connect" over as you say," House said, air quoting. "He's just a random family member. Worse than a random patient."

"Deny it all you want, but that's the truth."

Wilson was proud of himself as he watched his friend go over the chess board. "If he was abused," House thought aloud, "him being defensive in his strategy would be normal. And I was attacking him," House said, playing out a variety of moves. "The king is the pride of the man in a game, and we all know what every man's pride is. He did his best to take my king as swiftly and as surprisingly as he could. Before he did that, he made sure to hack away at everything else first. If you want to think about it, he was trying to take down the authority as sadistically as he could."

"All this out of a chess game?" Wilson asked. "You are into this kid and it's kind of scary."

"I like how his mind ticks," House finally admitted. "All the better to mess around with."

Wilson rolled his eyes. "You do that. In the meantime, I'll be here holding down Fort Sane."

* * *

It wasn't long before House was back into Kaiba's room, rousing the CEO once again. The willingness that he showed before didn't seem to match. His face grew discontented. "Back again?" he laughed out. "Well, I guess no one likes to lose."

"Not when someone cheats," House said, trying to fire Kaiba up. It seemed to work immediately.

"I didn't cheat," he growled.

"Nii-san would never cheat," Mokuba added.

"Your brother is a business man, cheating is the game," the doctor harshly replied. Mokuba bit his lip at House's words, but didn't outwardly get angry. Instead he replied:

"He's not so shallow to cheat in a chess game," were the words chosen. "You just can't admit being beat fair and square."

House smirked, sitting down next to Kaiba, setting the clock like he did before. "I'll even let you play first," he said, having purposely given Kaiba the white pieces. Though Kaiba appeared outwardly unsure, he quickly picked up one of the pawns and moved it, slapping the clock.

"You still wanting to talk?" Kaiba asked, his eyes turning to Mokuba momentarily and then quickly back to the board to see what House was doing. He'd simply moved a pawn as well. "Anything that I tell you he'll already know. There's no need to hide it from him," he assured. He was aware that Kaiba was deliberately speaking in English to make it somewhat confusing for the younger brother.

"If you're so warm to talk then why not do it before?"

"Does it matter? I didn't want to talk, it's that simple," Kaiba was attacking this time, his tactic switching up from before. "What I tell you will not change whatever I have," he said, swallowing a bit of saliva, his face tweaking as it went down his throat. "What I tell you..."he said, moving after House moved.

"You're hesitation tells me that you still don't want to talk," House was somewhat sympathetic. "At the same time, you're attacking now, instead of defending."

"It's because I'm not so stupid as to use the same tactic twice on the same opponent, or else I'd be walking right into a defeat." He reached over for the water on the bureau, like he had in the last time. "Make your move."

The game pursued quietly, House trying to find his moment to say something to Kaiba, but falling a little short. He didn't want to speak so boldly in front of the younger brother. The way the older had presented it as nothing assured him that it might as well be a well kept secret. Finally, as their pieces dwindled he said:

"You're lying to me about it all."

Kaiba threw his head up. "Lying? First cheating and then lying....I guess I'm just a rotten person huh?"

"You wouldn't be at such a loss of words. You've danced around it the whole time, and gave vague answers..."

"I'm not lying," he said, his moves on the chess board becoming much more aggressive.

"I don't believe you," House said. The way that Kaiba starting firing like a bottle rocket gave him reason to believe that it would all come out at any second. "Maybe you just want there to be some reason that you're screwed up, when you're really not."

"I'm _not _screwed up, _you_ are," Kaiba fumed. House made another move, Kaiba making sure to check the board for any awkward movements of the pieces. He moved in return, taking one of House's bishops. The doctor smirked:

"Of course you're not lying," he said, making a 180 on Kaiba, well aware that it would add more fuel to the fire. "I mean, you wouldn't want the press to learn anything all that special I'm sure…"he said in a threatening manner.

There was a way that Kaiba reacted that seemed almost like all the blood in him was ready to come bursting out his neck. At least, that was what it looked like the longer that House was looking at it. "But if you really aren't lying, then why don't you give me some proof of that?" House said, "Everyone has some kind of proof that they can leave."

Kaiba heaved angrily, watching as pondered his move. The doctor had a hand up, ready to make his move, when he noticed Kaiba swallowing heavily again. The hand went from the chess board to Kaiba's neck quickly. "What the hell are you touching me for?" the CEO demanded. "Stop it," and as if he obeyed, House did. The look on his face had changed from somewhat amused to somewhat stricken.

"How long have you had difficulty swallowing?"

"What?"

"Before you almost croaked on lunch, how long have you had difficulty swallowing?"

"Not really, only one and a while," he said. "It wasn't relevant, everyone does it."

House looked toward the little brother before looking back to Kaiba. Both of the brothers were on edge. As an almost amusing switch of topic House asked:

"What about when you broke your arm when you were twelve?" House finally asked. "No other medical history than vaccinations. Then suddenly you have a broken arm while in the custody of your guardian."

"I fell," Kaiba deflected. "You're always clumsy at that age. I was playing with Mokuba and I fell funny and broke my wrist."

"You sure that someone didn't decide to tug really hard?" House asked. He finally moved a piece, letting Kaiba move as well. The look of the board seemed to show that Kaiba was in the clear since most of the diagnostician's pieces were gone. Much like when Kaiba stole House's king, the diagnostician did the same. "I'm sure the kid will tell me," House said, jutting his chin toward Mokuba. The long haired boy had furrowed his brows at the doctor.

"He fell," Mokuba stated flatly.

"Checkmate," House said. "Give up your pride to me," he said. Kaiba tipped his king over, his face crestfallen. After the game ended, House stood up, touching Kaiba's neck again, and then turning swiftly to walk out of the room. Kaiba sneered at the doctor, but felt it wasn't worth his energy and lay back on the pillows, tired from the encounter.

* * *

"Where's Taub?" House demanded, coming into the differential room. He was met with an empty room, disappointed. He went into his office, though he could easily see that it too was empty. He pulled something from one of the desk drawers and put it in his pocket befroe going out into the hall to see if any of his fellows were standing nearby.

House limped to Wilson's office, peaking his head in. "You seen Taub?"

"Uh…no...Why?"

"Can't find him."

"Obviously," Wilson said, turning back down to paperwork on his desk. House was out the door before Wilson could ask any more questions.

The diagnostician stood in the hallway for a moment, his hand rested on his chin as he thought of where at least one of his fellows might be. He hesitated for a moment then turned to go downstairs. Once there he could see where his fellows were standing in Cuddy's office, talking to her. House stormed toward Cuddy's office, opening the door and barging in.

"Oh good, someone on my side," Cuddy sighed in relief. "Never thought I'd hear those words come from my mouth about you."

"Still trying to get a brain biopsy?" House asked, staring at Foreman. The neurologist refused to look at his boss.

"And I'm still saying no," Cuddy replied. "What crazy thing have you come for today?" House was already snaking his hand around Taub's upper arm.

"Can Taub come out and play?" he asked.

Cuddy didn't really need to give him a yes or no answer, so she just let him leave of his own will with Taub being dragged behind him. "Why do you need me?" Taub asked. House seemed to refuse to let him go.

"What stupid idea of yours did I dismiss?" he asked.

"The hypoglycemia?" Taub asked. "It's not hypoglycemia, you proved that wrong."

"Yeah well," House walked forward hoping that Taub would follow him. Reluctantly he did, getting in the elevator with his boss, knowing that it was a privilege.

"Where are we going?"

"To the patient's room."

"Why do we need…?"

"I'm trying to prove that you're not a second rate doctor so you'll actually be useful on the team."

"But wouldn't I have been useful if my diagnosis was correct all along?" Taub asked.

"No. It was still stupid," House quipped, getting out of the elevator, Taub shortly behind. "Doesn't mean it doesn't give me something to work with."

"Why'd you leave everyone else behind?"

"Because they aren't going to help me figure out what I needed to know," House said. "I figured I'd let them see how long it took them to realize that."

Taub opened the door to Kaiba's room, seeing the man asleep in the bed, Mokuba sitting next to him reading. House said to Taub: "Feel his neck."

Taub, in response, did as he said and walked over to Kaiba, settling his hands on the man's neck gently, narrowly rousing him from his light sleep. Mokuba seemed interested at this. "What do you feel?"

"He has an enlarged thyroid. Some kind of thyroiditis."

"Coupled with the neurological symptoms?" House said. Kaiba seemed to fully stir at this point and stared at Taub, waiting for what the man was going to say.

"Hashimoto's," Taub finally said. "Hashimoto's encephalopathy." Taub looked down to Kaiba, smiling at him as he did.

"Why are you smiling?" Kaiba asked. "It means I have something wrong with me still."

"Yeah Taub," House said like a sarcastic school-boy. "Why are you smiling at him?"

"Because it means it can be treated," Taub said, holding his hands together on at his waist. Kaiba turned to look at House, wondering if that was indeed the case. "But, what does hypoglycemia have to do with Hashimoto's?"

It seemed like this was the part that House was interested in. He limped over to the bed, pulling out that thing that he had pocketed earlier in his office. "Why do you have a scalpel in your pocket?" Taub asked, wondering if it would be a good idea to let House near the patient with such an implement. Kaiba seemed to react just as sternly, using his good arm to try and slide away from the diagnostician. House grabbed Kaiba's good hand, holding it out and making a small knick on his pointer finger. The CEO reacted harshly.

"Get the hell offa me!" he roared, tugging away from House and starting to go into a fit. The blankets on his bed went into disarray from his kicking and writhing.

"Have a meter?" House asked, completely disregarding Kaiba's thrashing and turning to Taub instead.

"Meter? For what?"

"Measure his blood sugar."

Taub was flicking his eyes between the two combatants, and then looked to the brother who was placing his hands on Kaiba's paralyzed arm.

"Nii-san, nii-san it's ok, it's not him," Mokuba was chiding while Taub was searching for the meter that House had described. Kaiba seemed coherent enough to use his elbow to jab the tray the chess board was on, letting it skid across the floor and scatter the pieces. Mokuba's fiery eyes turned toward the doctor. "Why'd you do that? Why not tell him first?"

Taub came back over, taking a small sample of the blood on the meter, waiting for it to process. House let Kaiba's arm go, the CEO starting to settle a slight bit. "His levels are like they were before. Sorta but not really low," Taub said. "What's so special about that?"

House smiled at Kaiba who's begun sucking on his finger to stop the bleeding. "You'll be fine by the way," he said. "You'll get over the suckiness eventually." Taub gave House a funny look, following him out of the patient room.

"So, my diagnosis meant nothing more than amusement to you?" Taub asked.

"Offended by that too?"

"It's a little upsetting."

"It was still useful," House said. "Just not to the diagnosis."

Taub stopped following his boss. "What's wrong with him that you're not telling us?"

"Nothing that matters to the diagnosis. Start him on steriods and test for Hashimoto's to confirm the diagnosis."

Taub stood in the middle of the hall, watching his boss walk off and wondering if it was a good time to tell the rest of the team that there had been a diagnosis. He figured he'd let it go on for a little longer before informing them.

* * *

A/N: I've done a lot of weird looking into Hashimoto's encephalopathy actually. It's known by a few other names, but I find it just a smidge ironic, hence the name.

There is one last chapter to this, the little finale I guess you could say. A fun ending maybe. I hoped anyone who read this enjoyed it. I did my best.

Till next time, KenSan out!


	7. Epilogue

A/N: I realize this is reeeeeeeallllllllly late coming...and I am really sorry. The flashdrive that it was backed up on sort of went AWOL on me for a while, so I hope you excuse the lateness. Anyways...the finale!

* * *

**Epilogue.**

After a few days there was a considerable upliftedness in Kaiba, something that Mokuba could see. The paralysis had begun fading away, but not without its complications, the tremors had completely vanished, as had the seizures.

"...I need you to see about that thing for muscular dystrophy," Kaiba said as Thirteen came in with a nurse, a wheelchair ready for him. Kaiba was still dressing, using his good hand to button up the coat of his suit, shouldering his phone with the other. "Preferably before it's over," he snapped, "because then it would be pointless."

"Mr. Kaiba," Thirteen said, wondering if he'd even seen them enter. Kaiba held up a finger to them, switching the phone over to where he could hold it properly.

"I also need you to get in touch with the morons who are thinking of sponsoring the park," he said, grabbing the cane that was lying against the bed. He despised the idea of using it to help him walk, but knew that it was for the best, at least until he gained full use of his right leg. "I'm not the one's dealing with the contractors, they are...I don't care about the contracting, I need to know about rescheduling the meeting with the sister company working with us...Am I speaking Russian? I didn't think so. Get in touch with them then get back to me." He snarled, hanging up the phone and shoving it in his coat pocket.

"Ready to go?" Thirteen asked.

"Where's House?"

"He's not much for farewells," Thirteen replied. "Your brother around?"

"He should be getting back...he said he was going to the candy machine."

Kaiba walked out of the room, peeking around to see where Mokuba had gone. He was coming up the hall, Kaiba motioning for him to hurry up. He turned around and settled himself in the wheelchair. "I'm not leaving just yet," he informed Thirteen and the nurse. "Just take me to the lobby and I'll make my way to Dr. Cuddy's office." He said this more as an order than a request.

Once there he stood up, saying a brief farewell to Thirteen before walking into Cuddy's office, not bothering to knock. Cuddy smiled at him. "Good afternoon Mr. Kaiba," she said, "you look better."

Kaiba sat down, nodding in response. "I just want to cut to the chase," he said frankly. "You'll still be getting what I offered before, and then some." Cuddy's face brightened.

"Why the sudden change?"

"Do you really have to ask?" he said, pulling out what was obviously a checkbook. "I don't plan on giving it all at once, since that would be rather pointless, it would all be spent in one year. Consider it like an allowance," he said haughtily. He handed over the piece of paper, leaning back in the chair. His phone rang again. "Did you get a hold of them?...What did they say?..."he paused to look at his watch. "Are you stupid? That's a half an hour and I'm in New Jersey! You really think I can get to Sacramento that fast?" he barked. "Tell them that I'll be there at five o' clock and if they don't think it's important enough to wait that I'll be going to a competitor," and he hung up at that. He turned back to Cuddy as if he had never taken his attention from her. "I'm hoping that will do?" She started to nod.

"This hospital will make good use of your money Mr. Kaiba," she pushed away from the desk. "You seem to be busy, so I won't hold you here for very long."

Kaiba stood up with her. "One more thing. Your diagnostics department," he said. It caused a grim look to cross Cuddy's face.

"What did House do?"

Kaiba smirked. "I was going to say that you have a good one. I was hoping you would be a little generous to it," he said, dropping a hint before turning around and leaving.

Out in the lobby, Kaiba saw House leaving, Wilson following behind him, same as the days before. Kaiba walked in front of House and turned to look at him. "How could you tell?" Kaiba asked, making sure that he spoke in Japanese since Wilson was nearby.

"It's all the same," House replied, "I just wanted to see."

"I'm sure," Kaiba reached into his pocket, but paused. "It's never going to stop. It hasn't stopped with you, it won't stop with me. Unless the memories can be fully erased," Kaiba said. "Not that you would admit it, nor I." Kaiba let out a fleeting smile, pulling something out of his pocket and handing it to House. "Come on Mokuba. We need to get to California for prep on the theme park."

"'Kay."

Wilson came to House's side, watching the diagnostician as he opened the scrap of paper, reading the Japanese characters.

"'You can pretend you're me, but you're not and you know it,'" the letter began, Kaiba's pride all over it. "'You're outward about everything, it's written all over your face. Something may have happened to you, but it wasn't as harsh. You're just who you are because it's who you want to be, not what you were forced to be. No one will understand; don't try to use it as an excuse for anything, you'll sound like a fool. Heed the advice.'" House was about to crumple up the piece of paper when he read at the bottom: "'By the way, next time, don't try to cheat at chess with me. You can't outdo what one has already done. '"

"What's it say?"

"He thinks Cuddy's smokin' hot."

"Right, of course he does. That's why it was so crucial for him to give it to you."

"It doesn't matter what it says," he said, crumpling the paper up. "I'm just glad he's out of my hair."

Wilson shook his head. "He was the best patient you had since that stalker chick," he said. "Totally devoted to you, completely trusting..."

"Scary thought."

"Right...and you say you don't have problems."

House smirked. "Oh the irony."

* * *

A/N: Well thank you very much for reading. I hope you enjoyed the story. And without further ado, KenSan out!


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